theodp writes: Just when you think the cable TV viewing experience couldn't get any worse, GeekWire reports on the Microsoft Xbox Incubation team's patent-pending Consumer Detector, which uses cameras and sensors like those in the Xbox 360 Kinect controller to monitor, count and in some cases identify the people in a room watching television, movies and other content. Should the number of viewers detected exceed the limits of a particular content license, the system would halt playback unless additional viewing rights were purchased. As Yakov Smirnoff might say: In Soviet Russia, Kinect-equipped Motorola Model 20F2 console TV watches your family!

The big story here is how evil this story really is.Benevolent corporations strike again. If you can think up the most evil things a corporation could do, you are already to late. They have long ago studied it to see how your dream could generate or increase profits.

In the case of this story. Not only has this idea been around for a while, the movie companies, cable and others have always wanted a way to charge by person since VHS days and early cable that charged by TV connected. Thanks to kinect and the e